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Congratulations go to Bob Winland (FEP Username: roush235) and his 1979 Mustang coupe as winner of the July Ride of the Month! The story of this Ď79 Mustang began in February of 1979 when Bob, fresh out of college, just married and now fully employed decided he needed a dependable new car so he custom ordered this gem from Ford. The Mustang was special ordered with the 200 straight six and automatic transmission. Bob also chose to add the A/C option and the Sport Option, which brought the options to a total of 20 on the Mustang. The sticker price on the new Mustang was $6880 and Bob paid $6134 to drive it home on April 13, 1979.

Bob used the coupe as his daily driver until 1985, at which time he and his family were being transferred from Illinois to Louisiana where he got a company car. What to do with the car, since it was now an extra but he didn't want to get rid of it? "Let's send it to the mother-in-law's garage, temporarily." Well, temporarily lasted 14 years, during which time it was driven sporadically and received little maintenance. In 1999 after two more moves and arriving in Texas it was time to bring it home with the idea of sprucing it up a little. At the time it had 78,000 miles. In another familiar story, one thing led to another and by 2004 Bob had a show car. Obviously the car is a long-time member of the family and now sports over 95,000 miles.

As time has progressed, Bob has done all he can to continue to work on the restoration of his beloved 79 coupe. He continually works on keeping it stock while making it even more stock and as original as possible. The original straight six continues to pump out its factory rating of 85 HP and looks as good as the day it rolled off the assembly line. The challenge for Bob has been the lack of parts and restoration items for his Mustang. This is a problem as all of us Fox owners are quite aware. The Mustang suffered a minor fender bender when it was a month old and a replacement bodyside molding is needed to restore that area to original condition. Bob, like many other Fox owners, has been waiting impatiently for the reproduction side molding to finally be available. Bobís other issue is 36 year old plastic parts that are becoming quite brittle and prone to breakage. The biggest issue for Bob and his continued restoration is the lack of solid information on details of the early four-eyed foxes.

Thanks to Bobís continued work on his prized Mustang it has seen quite a lot of press. The Mustang has been featured in Mustang Enthusiast (2005), Mustang Times (2005), Mustang Monthly (2011), and a Jerry Heasley calendar (2009). In addition to all the press, the Mustang is shown as often as possible no matter how far away the event. This included Bob driving the Mustang from Houston to Oklahoma City and on to Charlotte for the 50th Anniversary last year. This has been a typical road trip for Bob taking the Mustang to at least one long distance show per year. Unfortunately, last yearís trip exposed some issues that coupled with the perils of driving an old car in todayís traffic, has led him to make the decision to only drive to local shows and trailer to the long distance ones from now on.

While showing the Mustang, Bob has received five Gold Awards at MCA shows while competing in the Concours class. He also has MCA awards when entering in the Occasional Driven class. Bob is working towards a Grille Medallion which, if things go well, he will achieve next year. Bob just recently competed in the MCA event held in Loveland, CO and has plans to be at the September MCA show in Columbus, OH. Bob has also been able to accumulate several awards in local shows that appreciate a stock six cylinder Mustang. Bobís current plans are to compete mainly at the MCA shows in the foreseeable future.

Bob recent retirement has allowed more time to devote to his Mustang and his other car-related endeavors. Bob spends much of his time now as the Mustang Club of Houstonís Regional MCA Director where he works Classification and Judging at the MCA shows. But donít let Bobís love of his Ď79 fool you! Bob is the proud owner of a 2012 Roush RS3 Mustang and a new F150, plus he is always cleaning and fiddling with his wifeís Explorer Sport, his college daughterís Escape. It is plain to see, Fords only in the Winland household.

Once again, congratulations to Bob and his beautiful 1979 Mustang. What an excellent example of an original 1979 Mustang and the first year of the new Fox body that we all love so much. Bob wanted to thank FEP for all that it does! FEP would like to thank Bob for sharing his Mustang with us and all that he does to help others restore and maintain their original Foxes.